WALA News for Nov 9, 2007

Editorial: Kevin Coughlin, Director of the Bureau of Assisted Living, has won Governing Magazine's prestigious award as one of their Public Officials of the Year. He is in some pretty amazing company: the Governor of the State of Washington, the Mayor of Houston, the Speaker of the California Assembly and the Police Chief of Los Angeles, amongst others. I was honored to be invited and I attended the dinner this week in Washington DC where Kevin received his award. He was very gracious from the podium for all the stakeholders - including WALA - who helped make this award possible. Congratulations, Kevin, to you and your team. WALA is pleased that our collaboration with you helped you to secure this award. See below for details. Jim Murphy, Executive Director.

  1. BHFS-83 Rewrite Hearings Scheduled
  2. Legislative Update
  3. Elder Abuse Stores in the Newspaper
  4. Jim Moore Seminar January 22, 2008
  5. Administrators and Managers Course in February
  6. Kevin Coughlin Wins Prestigious Award

1. HFS-83 Rewrite Hearings Scheduled

As you can see in the list of HFS-83 hearings dates and places, the public hearings on the HFS-83 rewrite begin December 7 and are scheduled for mid December in the five BAL regions. We just learned about this late last week and we are asking that you review the proposed rule and prepare your own views to the Initial Proposed Rulemaking Order. The purpose of the hearings is to give you, the public, a voice on the proposed rule and any changes you may wish to make. The rewrite had been a four+ year collaborative effort and WALA has been at the forefront of this process for you.

Now that the hearings are scheduled, it is critical that you read the proposed rule to determine its impact on the assisted living industry and your own operations.

You can easily access all the DHFS pertinent rewrite documents. WALA recommends that you review all the documents, though there may be some overlap between them. (The earlier 2006 version on the DHFS website was recently revised - be sure to use the most current revision at this link.)

We encourage you to send WALA your comments electronically to help us see if there are implications we may have missed. (Due to the short lead time, send electronically only, please.)

WALA will develop policy as approved by WALA Board of Directors for action. Talking points to be used by WALA members at the hearings will be determined from these policies. We encourage you to talk to each other, the WALA Board, Legislative Committee, other providers and those who will be impacted by the new rule to help formulate your own views and concerns about the proposed rule. The more people who review the documents the better chance there is in finding potential issues. We encourage you to testify and/or send comments to the state. Emailed comments from any WALA member are welcome - email comments to Jim Murphy at jmurphy@ewala.org.

Written comments to the state may be submitted at the public hearing or submitted to the contact person listed (Pat Benesh, Quality Assurance Program Specialist, Division of Quality Assurance, 1 West Wilson St. Room 1150, Madison, WI 53701 Phone: 608-264-9896 Fax: 608-267-7119 benespa@dhfs.state.wi.us). Comments may also be made using the Wisconsin Administrative Rule Website.

2. Legislative Update

Wisconsin Senate Replaces Senate Majority Leader the Day After Budget Passes - The day after the Wisconsin Legislature passed the State Budget, Senate Democrats who control the majority voted to elect a new leader. Senator Russell Decker (D-Weston) was elected to replace Senator Judy Robson (D-Beloit) as the Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader. The change has been treated by the press as being controversial. Senate Majority Leader Russell Decker last week announced the following changes to the Senate Committees:

Wisconsin Budget: Provisions Impacting Long-Term Care - As reported two weeks ago, the Wisconsin Legislature passed the 2007-09 Biennial Budget and Governor Doyle signed the proposal, with limited vetoes, into law. A 15-page comprehensive review of the final budget is available at WALA. Below is a shorter summary impacting long-term care providers. If you would like more detail on any of these provisions, please contact WALA lobbyist Forbes McIntosh at: mcintosh@broydrick.com.

Memos of interest

Activity Professionals: Wisconsin DQA Memo 07-017 (October 10, 2007) - Approval of the Modular Education Program for Activity Professionals. Wisconsin representatives of a national activity professional association (WRAP) have requested the Bureau's approval of the "Modular Education Program for Activity Professionals." This course was developed by the National Association of Activity Professionals (NAAP) and the National Certification Council of Activity Professionals (NCCAP). This memorandum announces the Bureau's approval of this program as a "state-approved program." Any successful graduate of the program is considered a qualified activity professional under federal reg 42 CFR 483.15(f)(2)(iv).

COP Risk Reserve: This new informational memo clarifies the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) policy on approving the use of Community Options Program (COP) Risk Reserve and on awarding COP High Cost Funds as counties implement managed long-term care expansion. (CRAIG - Break here to end of this memo) Counties have asked the Department to clarify allowable uses of COP Risk Reserve funds prior to, and during, a transition to Family Care. COP Risk Reserve may not be used to offset the required contribution of county funds under managed long term care expansion. However a county may use COP Risk Reserve for the following purposes as detailed in the memo. The Complete memo 2007-12 is online at DHFS.

Legislative Bill Watch (Abridged. For additional, contact WALA)

by Forbes McIntosh, WALA Lobbyist (Abbreviated - for complete info, contact WALA)

3. Elder Abuse Stores in the Newspaper

All this week the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper has been running a seven part series on elder abuse. Assisted living is mentioned as well. We encourage you to read the entire series at http://www.madison.com/wsj/ as it is not a pretty picture of how we care for our elderly. The Friday 11/9/07 story is titled, "Caregiving in Crises."

WALA is crafting a response to the story.

4. Jim Moore Seminar January 22, 2008

Many of you know Jim Moore, globally recognized speaker and founder of Moore Diversified Services, the national leader in conducting broad-based consulting, market research and market feasibility studies in the Seniors Housing and health care industries.

WALA will present a one-day seminar with Mr. Moore Tuesday January 22. Mark your calendars - details soon. Additional info on Jim Moore - you will find a day spent with Jim Moore is a great investment in your future.

Jim Moore has over 40 years of unmatched industry experience. As part of his consulting practice, he has actually lived briefly in over 80 retirement and assisted living communities. His clients include a broad spectrum of national leaders and small organizations - with a balanced mix of both for-profit and not-for-profit clients. He is the industry's leading independent living and assisted living author, having published several hundred industry technical papers, trade journal articles, a weekly business column for two major newspapers and authored several books on seniors housing.

5. Administrators and Managers Course in February

Each winter, WALA hosts a valuable two-day seminar for administrators and managers. Designed for beginning to mid level managers and administrators (and a refresher for more experienced staff), it is an information filled two-day training on all aspects of managing an assisted living facility, residents, staff, H/R, regulatory compliance, networking etc. We have presented this course to great acclaim for 8 years and it will held in Milwaukee in mid-February. More details soon.

6. Kevin Coughlin Wins Prestigious Award

Kevin Coughlin, Director of the Bureau of Assisted Living, was one of nine winners of Governing Magazine's Public Official of the Year. I met the writer, Penelope Lemov, at the awards dinner on November 6 in Washington DC at the legendary Willard Hotel, and she was impressed with Kevin, as you can see from her story. When I chatted with Elder Witt, the Deputy Publisher & General Manager of Governing Magazine, she emphasized that the award is for innovative collaborators.

Kevin, the shoe fits. Congratulations to you and your team. Kevin, we are proud.

Kevin Coughlin: Common-Sense Compliance

by PENELOPE LEMOV | photograph by MICHAEL KIENITZ

Photo of Kevin Coughlin"Kevin Coughlin wasn't a stranger to assisted-living systems when he took over the assisted-living program in Wisconsin in 2003 - he'd spent seven years managing a private facility before going to work for the state. But like Bratton (WALA note - another winner), he had a talent for asking the right questions. Why were all the state's assisted-living facilities being regulated the same way, when some clearly needed more attention and some could function with less? Coughlin's decision to rationalize the regulatory process led to myriad improvements across the state - and made Wisconsin a national model for meeting the growing demand for assisted living.

Kevin Coughlin didn't set out to turn Wisconsin's assisted-living system upside down. He just wanted to inject its regulatory process with a dose of common sense. But Coughlin's rational approach has, in fact, been both revolutionary and successful: He has managed to shift the old "gotcha" relationship between regulator and provider to a collaborative process that has translated into safer homes for the frail and elderly residents in the state's 2,700 assisted-living facilities."

Visit this page for more on Kevin or read the the full story on all the award winners.

The nine winners in 2007 are: Bill Bott, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Missouri; William J. Bratton, Police Chief, Los Angeles; Debra Campbell, Planning Director, Charlotte; Kevin Coughlin, Director, Bureau of Assisted Living, Wisconsin; Natwar Gandhi, Chief Financial Officer, Washington, D.C.; Christine O. Gregoire, Governor of Washington State; Bill Leighty, former Chief of Staff to former Gov. Mark Warner, Virginia; Fabian Núñez, Speaker, California Assembly; Bill White, Mayor of Houston.



 

 


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